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Effort would correct misspelling - but not mispronunciation - of Manchaca

Austin's long-held knack for mangling street pronunciations is so rich it could be its own game show category.

As in: "This well-known University of Texas-area street's name suggests a circular motion."

"What is GWAD-a-loop, Alex?"

But it is the misspelling, not the mispronunciation, of a street in South Austin that "always stuck in my craw," said Bob Perkins, a retired Travis County district judge and amateur historian who is on a campaign to correct the spelling of the street named for a Tejano hero of the Texas Revolution. The right spelling is Menchaca, not Manchaca, according to Perkins and Texas historians.

Perkins recently created a "Justice for Menchaca" page on Facebook and is working to collect 1,000 signatures on petitions before asking the City Council to approve replacing Manchaca Road street signs with ones bearing the correct spelling. Perkins said last week that about 300 people had signed hard copies of the petition; he hoped to get the rest of the endorsements online. City Council Member Mike Martinez supports his campaign, Perkins said. Martinez did not return a call last week seeking comment.

Manchaca Road is named for José Antonio Menchaca of San Antonio, who according to the Texas State Historical Association's Handbook of Texas served during the revolution under the command of Juan Seguín and fought in the Battle of San Jacinto. Later, Menchaca led a cavalry of Tejanos, or Texans of Mexican descent, who patrolled an area north and west of San Antonio to guard against Indian attacks, often using elevated land near springs southwest of Austin as a camping base of operations. According to the Handbook of Texas, Manchaca Springs is named after Menchaca, and the southern Travis County community of Manchaca is named for the springs.

Menchaca, pronounced Men-CHAH-kah, died in 1879. Somehow, however — no one is exactly sure why — even when Menchaca was alive, early Anglo settlers dropped the "e" from his surname and inserted an "a."

According to Perkins, the "nucleus of everything" in this misspelling mystery lies in 1850, when William Pelham bought the springs and built a stagecoach stop and hotel, which he later named Manchac House. A post office also opened there and Pelham became the first postmaster. Before that flurry of development, Perkins said, some people preferred the three-syllable mispronunciation of Manchaca, while others used a mispronunciation that endures today and that some find as cringe-worthy as the sound of a dental pick scraping teeth — MAN-shack.

"Sounds like a strip club," Perkins said with a laugh.

Once Pelham removed the last a, however, early-day settlers had no choice. "Then you have to say MAN-shack," Perkins said.

"People have a right to say it however they want to say it," Perkins mused. But he thinks that people will learn to say Menchaca correctly with a little education and if the sign spellings are fixed.

A city spokeswoman said that generally City Council approval is needed for a street name change.

The Texas Department of Transportation controls Manchaca Road, also known as FM 2304, because it is part of the state highway system. The state allows cities to assign local names to state roads, usually in a written request to the state, Transportation Department spokesman John Hurt said. In the rare case when a city wishes to correct misspellings on state road signs, the state typically waits until the signs are due for replacement from normal wear and tear, Hurt said.

Manchaca Road goes back at least 110 years, said Gayla Dembkowski with Travis County Transportation and Natural Resources. In 1902, after surveyors mapped all Travis County roads, county commissioners declared them public roads. Manchaca Road was spelled then as it is now, Dembkowski said.

This wouldn't be the first time that a citizen-led effort has sought accuracy in the street name.

More than 20 years ago while a member of the city's Planning Commission, Beatriz de la Garza advocated correcting the spelling, she said. But after city staff members presented estimates for changing the street signs and associated costs, fiscal prudence prevailed over historical accuracy, she said.

A former Austin school board president, de la Garza said the school district got it right, correctly naming Menchaca Elementary School in South Austin.

"It's a shame that the spelling has been corrupted," de la Garza said.

Texans of Mexican descent suffered discrimination after 1836, Perkins said, but Menchaca was respected by everyone, including early and prominent Travis County Anglo settlers who preserved his name for the springs long after his troops stopped camping there. They benefited from Menchaca's vigilance, Perkins said.

He expects that some will again raise the issue of cost.

"This guy put his life on the line for Texas," Perkins said. "We owe it to him to spell it right."